Daily Archives: January 3, 2018

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Essay writing, Personal Study

Introduction-Draft 1

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How does Phillip Toledano explore notions of change, fate and Absence in his work?

“One body, One soul, One density”

During my personal study I have looked at and been inspired by the work of Phillip Toledano, a male photographer who is probably best known for his work dedicated to his father’s final chapter. In this essay I will be focusing on the ways that Toledano explores change, fate and absence in his work and how this can be linked to and understood within realism and straight photography. I will be particularly focusing on his project entitled ‘Days with my Father.’  Within this process, I will also be creating links to my own personal study, which also investigates and reflects upon the fate, absence and specifically change within my Granddad’s life. Within my essay I would like to particularly explore how Phillip uses these to create a story and how they all form a relationship and link with one another. Photography is a medium that possesses the precious ability to influence and transcend past, present and future, we are capable of documenting the present, easily comparing the past and predicting the future. I would also like to explore emotion and how this is used in photography to tell a story through tackling personal issues, specifically concentrating upon family and change within them. The work included within my book has been my method of documenting and expressing my emotions in addition to my granddad’s story. With the conclusions drawn from this analysis, I can hopefully proceed to evaluate whether my work has accurately portrayed issues of change and fate shown through photography.

 

Analysis, Artists References, Experimentation, Independent Study, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Recording

Shoot w/ Mum and Lucy

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Below are the edits I have created using Adobe Lightroom from my photoshoot where I photographed my girlfriend, Lucy cutting my mum’s hair in our kitchen.

This was one of the first the photoshoot I completed for my project and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get a collection of a few strong images to start me off with my project looking at relationships within my life and my family circle.

My girlfriend, Lucy is 17 and has just recently qualified as a hairdresser and so is always being asked by family members for hair cuts, including my own family.

I really like these images and the reason for this is because of their very delicate, poetic and elegant nature. All three are very documentary style and are capturing a moment in time.

The three images below have been edited on Adobe Lightroom and are the best three images from the photoshoot. All three work well in conjunction with each, however, I plan to use them with the images produced from my mini photoshoot I carried out at my dad’s flat.

The photograph below is of Lucy cutting my mum’s hair. You can also see me in the reflection as I am taking the photograph and this could be seen to ruin the image as usually it is known for photographer to remain behind the camera and out of frame because if the audience are t see the camera or the photographer, then we don’t like this as we have been taught that the common ideology of photography is for the photographer to remain behind the camera. I enjoy the fact that as well as the subject, I am also in the frame but with both Lucy and Mum illuminated so the focus is on them.

The photo below is mid-at through the haircut and shows Lucy gathering some of my mum’s hair to cut and the effect of this movement is captured in the camera and transferred to a visible blur in her hands which I also think has a positive effect because it shows that the photo is more than just one dimensional and adds action to what is shown. It is pretty much the same photo as above as it consists of the same content but as a close up shot to view the subjects in more detail and instead in black and white. As opposed to focusing on hard shadows and contrasts,  I have attempted to focus more on neutral tones such as greys and making these the base of the image because I observed this in LaToya Ruby Frazier’s images; that the contrast was quite low and instead, grey colours were used to provide a body to the image and this is also the same in Matt Eich’s images – something I ma not used to but enjoy the visual effect of.

There is in fact a Matt Eich image that he took of his family in the garden as his wife cuts his hair, shown below.

The image below is of the hair resulting form my mum having her hair cut. The wet, clumps of hair lay on kitchen floor scattered across the tiles as, in the top corner, the blurred motion of the vacuum enters the frame. It is a very simple image that takes little skill and technique and more observation and focus to see this moment as a photographic opportunity because this photo finishes off my collection of the first, second and this as the final image to create a mini series of three images.

Creative Pathway, Independent Study, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Divorce Parties

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This blog post covers work discovered through attending my work placement at Societe Jersiaise as well as this relating to my work for my personal investigation and I will be using this information mainly as research to work in conjunction with my project regarding my parent’s divorce and how this has since shaped my own life living two different experiences, one with my mum and the other with my dad. I encounter this notion of divorce parties when at Societe Jersiaise as the database lacks any information on divorces in Jersey and instead has over 100 images relating to marriages and weddings but this interesting discovery of divorce parties intrigued me and I thought that the information found would work well in conjunction with what I produce, even I do not produce anything [images] relating to the celebration of divorce – but on a deeper level – this whole project is a celebration of divorce as I am documenting this as it happened in the past and I am also showing it now and what has come of it – a celebration in its own right because the vent has in-turn affected me and made me a different prosper to who I would have been if they stayed together – one I am proud to be. My project looks at the fragility of relationships and the intimacy that comes with all relationships in a lifetime – to me intimacy is what makes a relationship strong because knowing a person inside and out, something I feel I possess with my relationship with my mum, my girlfriend and my sister, is crucial to feeling like you have a place within this world – this fast-moving world where often you can feel very isolated and this project looks to challenge that while supporting this realism through underlying moods and tones shown through my images – as much as it about finding a balance between two oppositions, it is good for these conflict at times; for example, loneliness and acceptance or cohesion and destructiveness of familial bonds.

The information to follow covers divorce parties and what they are and what the subject of divorce parties are supposed to take from it. However, I do believe that it would be interesting to perhaps get in contact with a wedding planner on Jersey to inquire as to whether the have weer actually organised a divorce party for a local and go from there with regards to including it in my project.

Once I discovered this idea of divorce parties, I did some research into it in order to see if it could get me anywhere and if it intrigued me. I found an article on The Guardian Online which covered the celebration and in particular interviewing a specialist in divorce party planning and a lady who has made a living out of it. You can read the full article above in the hyperlink but for now, I am going to list the notes made from reading into divorce parties from several sources. I also got some information from the planner’s website dedicated to booking a divorce party.

Divorce Parties 
  • Attempts to allow subject to get past pain of being divorced
  • there are divorce party planners who make a living out of it
  • Idea of rituals and ingrained traditions of celebrating birth, marriage, death bit not divorce…
  • Throw a divorce party to forget and vent anger of a cheating partner
  • If you want to become the person you used to be when single – to feel more independent and free
  • It is often women who want to throw a divorce party to forget their cheating male partner
  • It is a riddance of bad memories – revenge
  • E.G. one woman burnt cheating husband’s trophy on bonfire at the party
  • E.G. another woman threw wedding ring into sea and some burn their wedding veil or wedding photos
  • “There has been a couple guys but men don’t seem to need the display of support like women do”
  • There is a divorce party handbook which outlines etiquette at parties and what the evening would consist of etc.
  • It reiterates the importance to maintain relationships with people around you – however, detachment can lead to attachment onto other things to forget what once was happy times
Analysis, Artists References

Viviane sassen’s photobook // Roxane

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http://www.bjp-online.com/2017/05/photobook-roxane-ii-by-viviane-sassen/

http://oodee.net/books/viviane-sassen-roxane-ii/

http://www.vivianesassen.com/books/roxane/

I really like the Photographer Viviane Sassen and have decided to chose one of her many photo books. The photo book I have decided to focus on is called Roxane. I believe that Roxane is the name of the model within the images.  The images within the book are extremely unique and full of abstract, twisted visions. She explores the female body by using a variation of photo styles, such as fashion photography and abstract photography. Sassen also includes some landscapes within her book to create a contrast, and a story like layout. I love the wierd and unique style that Sassen has. Her way of thinking really helps me to express and develop my unique style as well.

Here are a few pages from the Photo book Roxane. I really like how she develops the book with the use of portraits and landscapes, as well as her abstract images. There is a large use of fashion photography within her images, similar to the images I have managed to develop so far in the project. 

The photo book flows very well from image to images because Sassen makes links between her images to create a genre and narrative. Her images are very unique and contain a contemporary style. The layout of her book is very simple and plain. This is something I want to do differently with my phonebook because I want to use my sequencing and layout to express a wild format and way of thinking.

All the images in the photo book are the same size, apart from the abstract landscape images that she uses to split up the flow. She does this to make the concept of the book more interesting, and to add contrast to the flow and layout. All the images of the woman, Roxanne are single spread images, on either side of the book. The abstract landscape ones are multi spread images that spread across both pages. In every image of Roxanne she is pulling a different pose, and making different shapes with her body. She is playing different female characters, that Viviane Sassen wants her to perform.

Viviane Sassen dosen’t dramatically edit her images because they are good enough to stick to the original as much as possible. She uses the model and the environment to add the interest into the images. Sassen’s focus point in her series is the movement of the body and the expressive shapes it creates. The clothes that the models are wearing links a lot with the landscape that she places them in. This seems to be an overall theme within Sassens images.

Analysis, Artists References

Contemporary photographer // viviane sassen

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VIVIANE SASSEN

Viviane Sassen was born in 1972. She is a Dutch artist who lives in Armsterdam. She is also a photographer who works with both fashion and fine art.  She is mainly known for her use of geometric shapes, often abstractions of bodies. This is why I really like Sassen because she experiments with her visions and her style is unique.  Sassen in known foremost as an artist. Her colorful photographs of Africa won her the  Prix de Rome in 2007. Sassen has managed to develop a ‘personal language’ that is sometimes surreal. She creates images with intertwines bodies, sculptural compositions and abstract forms. Her images are always fascinating and full of energy.

Sassen lived in Kenya as a child and often works in Africa.  She started studying fashion at Arnhem, but soon turned to photography. She is a photographer/ artist that is part of the group who create alternate personal, editorial, and commercial work. She embraces an interdisciplinary attitude. According to Sassen, she says “You should always be able to Judge a photograph on different grounds, on political, social, emotional, but also on personal grounds.” The photographs of intertwined bodies in inspired by daily physical contact with strangers she experienced in Africa.

The images below are some of Sassen’s images that were taken in Africa. I like the contrast of images that she has, some of portraits and some landscapes. I also love the contrasts within her images, and the abstract formations that she creates.

I love some of the contrasts that Sassen includes in her images. The vastness between her ideas shows that she has a vast amount of ideas that she presents. Some of the colours that she includes in her images are bright and full of energy.  She likes to use shadows to create a new dimension within her frame. I also really like some of her more simplistic ideas, such as her abstract landscapes, like the image below.  This image works really well in black and white because of the huge range of tones, from the light being reflected, to the darkest shadows. The image looks almost like a painting which I really like.

Ive decided to focus on this particular image of Sassen’s because I think it is extremely powerful. The main focus of the image is the man wearing a business suite holding a red folder.  At first look this image could be boring with no deeper meaning, however when you focus on the smaller details within the image, there’s a much more powerful concept. The name of the image is George.  This is probably the name of the guy within the image. George looks very powerful and professional because of the way he is standing, with his head held high, and the way he has positioned his body. He also looks very professional because of what he is wearing. He is in a business suite, so could be in a well payed position. I’m unaware if its deliberate or a good circumstance, but the plaster on the man’s face is what makes this image unique and powerful. The man